


Scales of Justice

by Aviditas04



Series: Scales of Justice [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Battle City Arc, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Duelist Kingdom, F/M, Pre-Philosopher's Stone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:43:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4319952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviditas04/pseuds/Aviditas04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duel Monsters has become popular in the magical world, resulting in the peaceful revelation of their existence. But all is not well, as Voldemort has discovered the power of the Shadow Realm, and now plots to use it to rule the world. When Bill gives Harry the Millennium Scales before the World Cup, it drags him into the fight to keep the Shadow Realm sealed off, forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Game That Changed the World

_In 1981, two events happened that would rock the Magical world, a world that had been hidden for more than two centuries out of fear. The second event was the death of the terrorist leader known as the Dark Lord Voldemort due to a ritual performed by Lily Anne Potter nee Evans on her son, Harry James Potter. Lily Potter sacrificed her life in order to save her son, and as a result, when Voldemort cast the infamous Killing Curse at Harry, it backfired, destroying Voldemort, while Harry survived, becoming internationally famous as the Boy-Who-Lived._

_The second event happened nearly two months earlier, as a few Muggleborns brought some decks of cards with them on their first trip to Hogwarts on September 1, 1981. Though a mere pebble in the lake of reality compared to the events of the following Halloween, this pebble would create ripples that would shake the very foundations of both the Magical and Mundane worlds._

Alan Foster was wandering the Hogwarts Express, hoping to find a fairly open compartment, or at least one with kids his age in it. To try and calm his nerves, he pulled out his deck of cards and started shuffling them, a habit that he had only recently gained. That was when a voice called out "Hey, is that a Duel Monsters deck in your hands?" Alan turned to the voice and nodded. The speaker was a girl about his age, one with golden hair and the darkest eyes he had ever seen. "Cool! I haven't found any other duellists so far, you want to share my cabin?" Alan jumped at the chance, and within minutes Alan and his new friend, Joanna Martin were duelling each other.

When they arrived at Hogwarts, the duo, who had quickly become best friends were both sorted into Hufflepuff, but it was the following Saturday, September 5 that they shook things up. Joanna and Alan were living up to their House and had already finished their homework for their first week, and that allowed them to spend the weekend having fun. And for them, that meant duelling. "Ready, Jo?" Alan asked.

"Ready, Al." The duo quickly set up in the middle of the Hufflepuff table, and within minutes had gathered a crowd of fellow Muggleborns. By the time their first duel was over, even purebloods were watching.

“So, how do you play?” William Dillane, a pureblood Ravenclaw asked.

“It’s a game of strategy, imagination and luck,” Alan explained.  “The luck of the draw, your strategic use of the cards in your hand, and your inventiveness in combining your cards to make the best attack or defence.  Now, there are three types of cards: Monsters, which are your soldiers, Magic cards, which can boost your Monster’s strength, and Trap cards, which are self-explanatory.”  He then held up one of his favourite cards, the Dark Magician.  “Now, you see how this card has two numbers on it?  The left number is it’s attack strength, the right is it’s defence strength.  You play the monster in Attack or Defence position.  If I attack a monster in Attack position with a lower attack number, I win the fight, and the difference in strength is taken from my opponent’s life points.  However, if the monster is in Defence mode, then only the monster is destroyed, usually.  Oh, and on the subject of life points, each player has 2000 life points, and using your cards, you need to eliminate all your opponent’s life points.  Last one standing wins.”

“Strategy comes into play another way,” Jo added.  “You can own as many cards as you want, but you can only play with a total of 60 cards per duel.  You need to figure out the best combination of cards in order to win, and to do that, you need to really know your cards and what they can do.”

“Wait, what happens if you attack a stronger monster, or if they are the same strength?” Will asked.  “I noticed that sometimes you play a card face down, hiding their strength.”

“Good question, and that is exactly the reason,” Alan replied.  “As for what happens, it depends on the target, actually.  If the you attack a monster in attack mode and it’s stronger, then you lose the life points.  If the two are in attack mode and equal, then both monsters die and life points aren’t touched.  If you attack a stronger monster in defence, both monsters survive, and you lose life points.  If the two are equal, then both monsters survive and no life points are lost.  Also, another good strategy is to always play your traps face down, that way your opponent doesn’t know if you’ve played a monster, a spell or a trap.”

 

By the end of September, all of Hufflepuff, and most of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were hooked on the game, especially since the rest of the Muggleborns sent owls home so their parents could send their own decks. After Christmas, the half-bloods and purebloods started playing thanks to their Muggleborn friends. It so exploded in popularity that in Alan and Jo's Third Year, Will Dillane decided to enchant his own deck so that when he played a card, an illusion of the card would show up in front of him. It became so popular that by the end of the year, Will had enchanted every deck in Hogwarts, which by that time had expanded to even conservative Slytherin House. The next year, Will's first year out of Hogwarts, Will opened a game shop, stocked with every game that Muggles had created up to then, though some were changed to better fit the magical world. While the games were all popular, by far the most popular was Duel Monsters.

The ripples might have stopped there, if it weren't for one incident, again including Alan Foster. With the massive increase in experience he was gaining at Hogwarts, and some of the best trades he had ever done, (thanks to the inexperience of the pureblood players,) Alan was easily one of the best duellists in Canterbury. As such, the other local greats often sought him out, and at the first duel, they and their audience learned about the enchantment on the cards. With that one duel, and Alan's ignorance of the Statute of Secrecy, the Statute was broken, for not even the Obliviators could contain it. The duel had been televised, and Alan's competition had been from Southampton, while Alan himself had stated after the duel that his cards had been enchanted. Within hours, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed that magic was real and that a purely magical world existed along side their own, hidden for their own protection. By the next week, every government in the world had passed laws protecting all magicals from any kind of persecution, and preserving their governments, though they were now folded into the muggle, or now as it was called, mundane governments.

By 1987, the transition had been completed, and technological problems solved. The Muggleborns could now take their phones and other electric devices into magical areas and have them still work, and the growing field of genetics had not only found the magical gene, but also what caused squibs to be born. By 1990, not only had they found that out, but with the smaller nations, they had discovered how to find Muggleborns before they were even born, due to the discovery that with squibs, magic was still in them, just dormant. Even the goblins rejoiced at the reunion of the worlds as with genetics, old families whose vaults had lain dormant were being used once again, and with more gold flowing, the goblin's profits grew.

Also by 1987, the young but imaginative Seto Kaiba, founder of KaibaCorp had come up with a way to duplicate the magical illusions of the cards with technology, and partnering with Maximillion Pegasus had created duelling arenas around the world. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, though conservative had seen the way the wind was blowing, and quickly made Duel Monsters an official sport at Hogwarts, allowing Pegasus and Kaiba to build a duelling arena at Hogwarts, though their own arena would only be used for the semi-finals between the top twenty duellists. Dumbledore's only worry was how Voldemort would react to the radical changes in their world, and whether the peace between the two worlds would last when the mundane world faced the terror that was the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Voldemort on the other hand, despite his long exile without a body, had used the time not only to recover, but to do some more exploration. And his exploration had borne unexpected fruit. He had travelled a bit further south than he had planned and ended up in Egypt, but that was where he learned of an unorthodox archaeologist named Dr Arthur Hawkins. Dr Hawkins described a type of magical fighting called the Shadow Games that could have destroyed the world. Voldemort immediately caught on to the possibility, and by possessing one of the workers, he quickly stole a torque necklace from the tomb that described the Shadow Games, sensing incredible magical power from it. He got another shock when he learned that with it, he could see glimpses of the future. Following the prompting of the necklace, Voldemort returned to Albania, and bided his time until Quirinius Quirrell would arrive. Then he would start on the road to his true return, and the Ministry would again tremble at the name of Voldemort!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I have a question for all of you. Alan is going to be one of the eight finalists in the Duellist Kingdom, and I want to know who you think he should face between Yugi and Joey. I already know how the rest of the Finals is going to turn out, I just need to figure out the last duel. If Alan faces Yugi, then Joey faces Bandit Keith, as in canon.


	2. Starting at Hogwarts

Harry Potter couldn’t have been more excited, he was finally going to the wizarding world!  He had known he was a wizard ever since Minister of Magic Bagnold had revealed their existence to the nation, due to the fact that his uncle called them all ‘freaks’ like he was used to with Harry.  And now that he knew what he was, he had learned to use his magic without a wand.  It was difficult and not very effective, but he could _do it_.  And now, he was going to go to a magic school!  He couldn’t _wait_ to make some magical friends, and he might even have a chance now.  “Hello, Hogwarts too?” the other boy in the robe shop asked.  He was slightly taller than Harry, with silver eyes and platinum blond hair, and the air of nobility.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to go!  Wait, are there other magic schools?” Harry asked.

“Of course there are, Hogwarts is just the best in the Empire,” the blond answered.  As it turned out, Magical Britain was still a major world power, as it still controlled much of the former Mundane Empire, to the benefit of the citizens.  Some of the African nations wished to leave the protection of the Empire, until they noticed how quickly their Mundane counterparts fell apart in sectarian violence and dictators rose to take control and murder any who stood in their way.  Only three nations had left the Magical Empire with their mundane counterparts: Egypt, Jordan and Israel.  “My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands.  Personally, I couldn’t care either way, I’m much more interested in racing brooms.  I don’t think it’s fair that we can’t have our own broom until next year,” he continued.

“I think it makes sense,” Harry replied.

“How so?”

“Well, all the mundane raised will want to buy a broom, right?  Now, there is a flying class, right?”  The blond nodded.  “Well, what if they realize that they don’t like flying, or that they can’t?  They’ve just wasted money on a good broom that a flyer would want or need.  It’s nothing against those who grew up flying, just trying to save others the trouble of wasting galleons on something they won’t use later.”

“Huh, I never thought of it like that.  Smart.  Oh, where are my manners?  I’m Malfoy, Draco Malfoy,” the newly-named Draco said, offering his hand.

“I’m Harry,” the brunette replied, shaking his hand, and covering up a laugh.

“What are you laughing at, Harry?” Draco asked.

“Nothing, it’s just . . . have you ever watched the James Bond movies?”

“That’s a muggle thing, isn’t it?  No, I haven’t.”

“Muggle?” Harry asked.  He had never heard the term before.

“Oh, sorry.  Muggle is the old term for non-magicals, before we revealed ourselves.”

“Ah.  In that case, yes, it is.  Why?”

“My parents are very conservative, and do their best to avoid any mundanes, or anything connected to them.  They won’t even let me play any games that they invented!” Draco complained.  “Wait, are you first generation, or were your parents like us?”

“Um, second generation, I think,” Harry answered, recognizing the phrasing referring to how long a family had had magic.  “I _think_ my mum was first generation, but considering how my aunt says my grandparents reacted, I can’t be sure.”

“What do you mean?  What did she say?”

“Well, she mentioned that my grandparents were proud to have a witch in the family.”

“Hmm, sounds like they might have been squibs,” Draco stated.

“What’s a squib?” Harry asked.  “I read a lot about our world after Bagnold’s revelation, but it just wasn’t enough.”

“A squib is basically a first generation mundane, except they have enough magic in their blood to see magical creatures, get past certain anti-mundane wards, things like that.  A pair of squibs are more likely to have a magical child than two mundanes.  Oh, got to go!  I’ll see you on the train, Harry!” Draco said, scrambling out the door towards a dark-haired witch.

“I’ll see you, Draco!” Harry called out.  He grinned, he _knew_ he’d be able to make magical friends if he tried!

 

Two months later, and Harry and Draco were far from being friends.  In fact, Draco and Harry had been sorted into a pair of Houses that were traditionally rivals, and the two had epitomized the rivalry, all thanks to another friend that Harry had made: Ron Weasley.  Harry had become friends with Ron without knowing of the rivalry between the Malfoys and Weasleys, and as such, when Draco insulted Ron, Harry ended his friendship with Draco.  Although he was upset at losing his first friend, Harry believed he had made the right choice.  It was clear that Draco still wanted to be his friend, but whenever he made a gesture of peace, he always ruined it by insulting Ron.

Harry had just walked into the Great Hall for lunch when he saw something that startled him.  “What is that?” he asked, pointing at a pair of Hufflepuffs staring intently at each other.  Each held a couple of cards in their hands with a deck next to each of them.

“Oh, that?  Their playing Duel Monsters of course,” Hermione Granger responded.  Hermione had quickly become Harry’s third friend as she was very smart, friendly and non-judgemental, welcoming anyone, even the clumsy Neville Longbottom as a friend.  Thanks to her, Harry had become friends with Neville, who as it turned out was an amazing Herbologist, even with his self-confidence problems.  “Surely you didn’t forget that it was because a magical played Duel Monsters with an enchanted deck that the magical world was revealed?”

 “No, I just didn’t think it was that popular,” Harry stated, as he had noticed that there were multiple duels being played out all over the Great Hall.

“Oh, sure,” Fred Weasley said, having come up from behind them.  “There’s a duelling tournament at Hogwarts every year starting after Christmas.  The winner gets the amount of remaining life points as House points, so it’s popular, but the quality isn’t the best.”

“Really?” Harry asked in shock, and he immediately went to one of the Gryffindor couples duelling and started watching.  “Wait, why does the tournament begin after Christmas?”

“So that everyone can have the best deck possible,” George Weasley explained.  “The duellists often get cards as presents, so they wait until Christmas before starting the tournaments.”

 

By the time another two months had passed, Harry had realized that Fred was right.  Hogwarts was home to some terrible duellists, which meant that he could probably run roughshod over them all too easily.  He was just preparing to go to the dungeons for potions class when he heard a voice call out “Harry!”

Harry turned to face the boy he knew was the one to call him.  “Draco, I know what you’re going to say, but unless you apologize to Ron, we’re not going to be friends again.”

“Harry, do you even know why our families are feuding?” Draco asked.

“Ron said that your family has been stealing from his for years.”  To his surprise, the blond started _laughing_ at that claim.  “What’s so funny?”

“Us, steal from the Weasleys?  Harry, I think you need a history lesson,” Draco started.  “Come on, I know an empty classroom that we can talk in peace.”  Once they were inside and had both taken a seat, Draco started.  “Okay, first, you need to realize that my family came to England from France with William the Conqueror.”

“That’s obvious,” Harry replied.  “Your last name is French, but why is it Malfoy?  You realize that translates to ‘bad faith,’ right?”

Draco blushed as he remembered the story behind that.  “That’s for another time, Harry.  But since you know that, you should also know that the Weasleys were Saxon nobility and fought for Harold II.  As a result, the Weasleys lost their title and we gained our English title.  When the Wars of the Roses started, the Weasleys supported the Lancasters and we supported the Tudors.  Then when Cromwell rebelled, the Weasleys supported the crown and we supported Cromwell, and during the Jacobite rebellions, we supported the Hanoverians and they supported the Jacobites.  With each war, they lost power and we gained.  This last war against You-Know-Who is the first time that the Malfoys failed to pick the right side.”

“Oh, okay.  So, why did you really want to talk to me?  I know it wasn’t to give me that history lesson,” Harry asked.

“You’re right, it’s not,” Draco agreed.  “It’s because I’m sick and tired of hearing about Slytherins getting attacked in the hallways by Gryffindors.  You and I have become the epicentre of our Houses rivalry, and I want it to end, at least for the most part.”

“What do you mean,” Harry asked.  How could a rivalry only _mostly_ end?

“You’re Seeker for the Quidditch team, and I’m going to try to join next year, so obviously our rivalry will continue there.  But I also noticed that you seem pretty interested in the Duel Monsters tournament.  Am I right in guessing that you’re a duellist?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I want to learn how to duel, and based on the comments I’ve heard you making, you’re a good one.  So what I propose is this: in exchange for me convincing the Slytherins to back off, you teach me how to duel well enough that I can do well in the tournaments.  I’ll even back off on Weasley if you want.  What do you say?” Draco asked.

“And how would that help?” Harry wondered aloud.

“One thing that everyone knows about Gryffindors is that you’re all too noble for your own good.  If we Slytherins back off, then you Gryffindors will do the same.  If you and I keep our rivalry to the Quidditch pitch and duelling arena, then so will our Houses,” Draco explained.

Harry only needed a second to think about it.  “Do you have a deck?”

Draco frowned at that.  “No, father doesn’t want anything to do with the mundane world.”

“Well, then we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we?” Harry replied.  With that, the two boys shook hands and went on to their potions class.  For the first time, the class went without a hitch, something that surprised Harry and the other Gryffindors.  Once it was over, Harry received a note saying _That’s my Ashwinder egg and horseradish.  I look forward to seeing your squill bulb juice.  D_

“What’s that mean?” Harry asked Hermione.

Within a few hours of research, Hermione had found the answer.  “Whoever sent you that note is describing the first steps to a potion called Felix Felicis, a luck potion.  What’s all this about, Harry?”

“I think Draco just made the first step in repairing our friendship,” Harry stated with a smile.

 

On January 5, Harry returned to Privet Drive thanks to a portkey provided by Professor McGonagall, and he was preparing to break into his relatives home.  For once, they had taken a vacation during the Christmas holidays and didn’t even plan to be home until the next day, so with a quick, wandless _alohomora_ , Harry was inside Number 4 and within twenty minutes he had ‘acquired’ both Dudley’s old duelling deck and 50 pounds.  With them, he left for his favourite place in Surrey: a game shop called The Hidden Geek.  “Mr Bheged, I’m back!” Harry called out.

“Harry, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Darius?” the man called out.  Darius Bheged was the owner of The Hidden Geek, and a master gamer.  At 67 years old, he was getting up in age, but it didn’t slow his skills down at all.  His clear, blue eyes still twinkled when he had a killer move prepared and his grip was as firm as any Harry had felt, especially when it came to his cards.  “Now, I assume you’re here to keep up your end of the bargain with Malfoy.  Are you certain you should be friends with him?” he asked.  Darius had found out Harry was a wizard not long after Harry had learned himself, and as Harry’s only friend outside the magical world, Harry had written him about his Hogwarts experience.

“Yeah, I’m sure about him.  He’s not so bad as I thought he was.  So, do you have a deck for him?”

“Of course I have a deck for him!  I just need to know more about him,” Darius exclaimed.  Due to his mastery of Duel Monsters above all other games, he could match a deck to a player as easily as Ollivander could match a wand to a magical.

“Alright, his family’s from France originally, and came over with William the Conqueror, very good at picking the winning side, usually, they’re considered Dark, though I think it means they’re more conservative than most.  He’s cunning, ambitious, as sly as a fox yet extremely loyal.  Oh, and he’s named after the constellation Draco.”

Darius broke out into a grin.  “Well, now that is the easiest deck to match that I’ve ever had!  Wait right here and I’ll get it, and another one for you!”  

“I don’t need another deck, Darius!” Harry protested.

“Nonsense!  You can’t play with just a deck that was discarded by it’s previous owner!  That heart won’t be very strong until it’s won a few duels!” Darius responded.  Darius was a big believer in a philosophy called ‘the heart of the cards.’  The philosophy stated that so long as the duellist put his faith and trust in his cards, the deck would respond to that trust by giving the duellist the card or cards he needed in order to win.  When Darius’ friendly competitor, one Solomon Mutou first told him of the philosophy, Darius had passed it off as superstition and a belief in magic.  It was only months later, after Thatcher and Bagnold’s revelation that Darius had started to re-examine the philosophy, and quickly became a believer.  “Now, here’s your two decks.  I think you’ll be able to figure out which belongs to you and which to your friend.”

Darius was right about that.  He had handed Harry two starter decks, one called the Dark Legion, the other was called Sabre Force, and as the Dark Legion was chock full of dragons, there was no question as to who it was for.  “How much for them?” Harry asked.

“Five pounds for the Dark Legion, the other is a gift,” Darius insisted.

“Thanks!  Now, I’d like as many booster decks as this can pay for,” Harry stated, giving Darius the other 45 pounds.

 

The next day found Harry back on the Hogwarts Express, looking for his two friends.  Once he had found Draco and Hermione he pulled them into an empty compartment.  “Did you bring your deck, Hermione?” he asked.

“Of course, why?” she asked.

“Because we are here to help Draco start his campaign as a duellist,” Harry explained.  Once Draco had started his side of the truce, Harry had explained to Ron, Neville and Hermione, but while Hermione and Neville were accepting of the truce, Ron nearly _exploded_ at the very idea of a truce between their Houses.  Realizing that the hatred went both ways, Harry decided to break off his friendship with Ron as a result, seeing as how Draco was at least willing to make peace with Ron if it meant having Harry’s friendship as well.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” Draco asked, looking at the box Harry had handed him.

“No, take a look at the cards,” Harry responded with a smile.

Curious, Draco opened the deck and nearly froze at the sight of his monsters.  When he finally managed to respond, his first action was to _hug_ Harry!  “How did you know that I love dragons?  This is perfect!”

“Um, thanks,” Harry said, a little embarrassed at being hugged by the other boy.  Once he had recovered, him and Hermione quickly taught Draco the basics of duelling.  “Now that you know the basics, you can start choosing some boosters, Draco.  There’s plenty for all three of us, but I would suggest not choosing all the cards you can.”

“Why not?” Hermione asked.

“Because I already looked through them and pulled out some that work best together, and two that will become prizes in this year’s tournament.  But first, I found a couple of cards that had three copies that we could all benefit from, so we each get one.”  With that, Harry quickly passed out a Jinzo, Crush Card Virus, and Gearfried the Iron Knight to each of them.  “Okay, now, let’s go.”

Draco was quick to snap up all three Lord of Dragons and Flute of Summoning Dragon, as well as the only Des Volstgalph and a Dodger Dragon as well as the Curse of the Masked Beast and it’s accompanying monster card.  Hermione was just as quick to grab the Harpie Lady, allowing her to gain five support cards.  Harry had already grabbed his own preferred cards and waited until the other two had finished before completing his own deck of 60.  To his shock, the Mirror Force and Magic Cylinder were left behind, so he grabbed those for a third deck he had started after he discovered one key card among all the others.  When they arrived at Hogwarts, he knew that they would take Hogwarts by storm, especially when he revealed the two prize cards he had set aside.

 

The Hogwarts Duellist Tournament was set to start on January 17, so the morning of the sixteenth, Harry stood up and made an announcement.  “I’ve been a fan of Duel Monsters ever since the Intercontinental Championship of ‘87, so you can imagine the excitement I felt when I realized that we had an official tournament.  Yet I am _appalled_ by the lack of duelling skills that I have seen here so far.  So, I have decided to raise the stakes this year.  Two weeks ago, I found two rare cards among the many that I bought over the break, and I am offering them up as prizes for the winner and runner-up in this year’s tournament.”

“What are the cards, Potter?” Terrence Higgs of Slytherin asked.  He was currently the best duellist Slytherin had to offer, so naturally he was interested.

“They are a pair of dragon cards.  I have in my hands one Red Eyes Black Dragon, and one Blue Eyes White Dragon!”  Everyone started whispering at that.  A Red Eyes was rare, sure, but not as rare as the Blue Eyes!  This was only the fourth known to exist in the entire world!  “Until the tournament is over,” Harry continued, “these cards are going into the hands of the one professor I know will keep them safe, and keep them for the winner.”  With that, he took the two cards and handed them to Professor Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff.  The stakes had been set, the gauntlet thrown, now the only thing left was to see who would win.

 

May had come, and with it, the finals of the Hogwarts Tournament.  To everyone’s shock and surprise, Harry, Hermione and Draco were the currently the favourites to win the whole thing.  Draco had gone from a complete amateur, losing all his early duels against Harry and Hermione to one of the two best in Slytherin.  Now, he was facing up against Higgs, the undisputed best in Slytherin, and the entire House had come out to watch.  The other three Houses had gathered to watch the other duel: Harry vs. Hermione, the two best duellists in their House.  They were the final four, and everyone knew they would be the greatest duels in Hogwarts history.  And because of that, for the first time in years, the Hogwarts Finals were quickly becoming the most-watched duel in years, thanks to the cameras that had been specially enchanted to work at Hogwarts.

The life points were set at 2,000, and the duel began.  Harry, being the gentleman he was let Hermione go first.  “You’ll regret that, Harry,” Hermione promised.  “To start out, I’ll summon Terratiger, the Empowered Warrior in Attack Mode.  And using his special ability, I will summon this in Defence Mode,” she stated, placing one card face down.  “I will play two more cards face down, and end my turn.”

Harry managed to suppress a shudder at the cards she played.  She was good, he had to admit it, and playing four cards in the first turn was gutsy.  He drew his first card and decided to hold onto it.  Dragged Down Into the Grave could be useful later on.  “Alright, Hermione, I play Marauding Captain in Defence Mode, and using his special ability I’ll play Goblindbergh in Attack Mode.  I will add in Blustering Winds, and apply it’s 1000 Attack Point Bonus to Goblindbergh and attack your face-down card.”

“Not so fast, Harry, as I activate my Trap Card, Shadow Spell.  Your Goblindbergh loses 700 of it’s Attack Points,” Hermione countered.  But it wasn’t enough, as the Goblindbergh still destroyed her face down Golden Dragon Summoner.

“Sorry, Hermione, but you should double check the strength of the cards before playing a trap,” Harry stated with a grin.  Hermione just shook her head at her friend.  He was always teaching them tactics for Duel Monsters, and that had already given her ideas.  “Your move,” Harry stated.

Hermione nodded and drew her card.  “Very well, Harry, I play Harpie Lady in Attack mode, and strike at your Marauding Captain.”  With the crack of a whip, the Captain was destroyed.  “And now, I shall attack your Goblindbergh with my Terratiger, and end my turn.”

Harry winced as he lost 400 Life Points, and his last monster.  But he grinned as he saw his next card.  “Good move, Hermione, but say goodbye to your Harpie, and hello to my Gearfried the Iron Knight!  And now I play Dragged Down Into the Grave.”  Following the rules of the Spell Card, the two showed each other their hands revealing that Hermione still held Soul Resurrection and A Hero Emerges, while Harry still held Puzzle Reborn and Gagaga Gardna.  Harry then discarded Hermione’s Soul Resurrection, while she threw away his Puzzle Reborn, drew one card to replace them, and Harry ended his turn.

Hermione frowned as she had drawn two terrible cards, making it so that she couldn’t do anything but play one face-down card in Defence Mode.  Harry though was quick to recover.  “I play the Spell Card The A. Forces, and Gagaga Gardna in Attack Mode.  Now, Gearfried, attack her Terratiger!”  Before playing his spell card, that would have been a foolish move, as the two cards were evenly matched.  But with The A. Forces on the field, Harry’s Warrior cards gained 200 attack points for every Warrior he controlled.  So with Gagaga Gardna also on the field, each card gained 400 attack points, giving Harry the advantage, and tying their Life Points at 1600 each.  “Now, Gagaga Gardna, attack her face-down card, and I end my turn.”

Hermione winced as she now had no monsters on the field, but she grinned when she saw her next card.  “Sorry, Harry, but no more attacking for awhile.  I play Swords of Revealing Light, and end my turn.”

Harry grinned, the Swords were a delaying tactic, nothing more.  Sure, he couldn’t attack for three moves, but that just allowed him to build up his forces.  He drew his card and announced “I play Ganbara Knight in Defence Mode and end my turn.”

Hermione winced at Harry gaining another Warrior, but her next draw dismayed her even more.  Moon Mirror Shield was a Spell Card, meaning she couldn’t do anything, so she just nodded to Harry, allowing him to go again.  Harry on the other hand had drawn another Monster Card, so even with her Swords lasting another turn, he was confident of victory.  Hermione’s next card gave her some hope.  Sure, Zefraxa was better as a Pendulum Card, but with no monsters on the field, it would buy her some time to recover.  Harry drew a Trap card that, under the right circumstances would be devastating, but right now it was useless, so he ended his turn, and the Swords of Revealing Light dissipated.

Hermione braced herself for what she feared would be her last card, but when she looked at it, she grinned.  “You know something, Harry?  There might be something to this ‘heart of the cards’ philosophy after all.  I summon Aether, the Empowering Dragon in Attack Mode!”  Harry stared in shock, she just might actually beat him!  None of his cards could stand up to it’s 2300 Attack Points, and worse, she knew it!  “Aether, attack his Gearfried!”  Down went Gearfried, and 100 Life Points.  “Now, Zefraxa, attack his Gardna!”  And sure enough, he fell as well, with another 100 Life Points.  “Your move, Harry,” she said with a smile.

          Now it was Harry in a panic with no monsters to play, and his draw card didn’t help things, so he passed his turn.  Hermione drew as well, but decided to see how Harry could recover, and passed without attacking.  Harry drew, and grinned.  “You should have finished me when you had the chance, Hermione.  I summon the Odd-Eyes Dragon, and attack your Aether!”  Hermione winced as she lost not only her most powerful card, but between the battle damage and the effect of the Odd-Eyes, she lost 1450 Life Points.  “Your move, Mione,” Harry said with a smirk that he had learned from Malfoy.  That smirk had already become infamous, as Harry only smirked when he _knew_ he had won the duel.

Hermione drew her card.  Hmm, her Green Turtle Summoner might help, if it or she lasted the turn, so she placed it face down in Defence Mode.  But she knew that she had lost.  With only 150 Life Points left, any attack Harry made with the Odd-Eyes would end it, and Harry wasn‘t one to let his opponents recover.  And sure enough, Harry finished her off with his next attack, striking at her Zefraxa with his Odd-Eyes.  “Good game, Harry.  I really should have finished you off when I had the chance,” Hermione said as the walked out of the arena.

“Yeah, you should have, Mione,” Harry said with a grin.  “That’s something else you and Draco need to learn.  Never give your opponents time to recover if you can help it.  _Especially_ if they have no monsters on the field!”

“Hey guys, how’d your duel go?” Draco called out, running up to join his friends.

“Harry won, what did you expect?” Hermione responded.  “It was my own fault though, I let him recover when I had him on the ropes.  Was Ron here?”

“No, he wasn’t.  He’s sulking in the dorm, wondering why your duels were getting so much more attention than Quidditch,” Neville explained.  “Personally, I can’t wait to be able to duel myself.”

“Well, just give Harry a chance and he’ll pick out the perfect deck for you!  I know he did for me,” Draco said with a grin.  “I hope you’re prepared for our duel, Harry, because I can’t wait to get started.”

Harry just grinned back at his friend.  “Neither can I, Draco.  Neither can I.  Unfortunately, ours isn’t for another two weeks!”

 

A mere two days after Harry and Hermione’s duel, the four friends learned of a threat to something the Headmaster had hidden in the school.  All year, they had known that Dumbledore had been protecting a Philosopher’s Stone in the school, and now, after Hagrid let a little information spill, they now knew that it was in danger, and Dumbledore had left for the Ministry.  When they warned Snape and McGonagall, both had dismissed their fears, so the four had left to protect the Stone themselves.  One by one, they passed through the protections, even if Draco had somewhat cheated with the chess set.  Unfortunately, due to the final protection, Harry was alone in the final room, along with Professor Quirrell.

“I knew you’d be here, Potter.  My master foresaw this, and he would like to speak to you,” Quirrell stated.  That alone confused Harry, but his confusion became even worse when Quirrell started unwrapping his ever-present turban, only to reveal a second face underneath!  “Harry Potter, we meet again.  I assume you know who I am?” the second face asked.

“Voldemort,” Harry whispered.

“Indeed, Harry.  See what I have been reduced to because of you and your mother?  Mere shadow and vapour.  We have a chance between us to become two of the greatest wizards of all time.  Between my power and the Philosopher’s Stone, we have a chance to bring back your parents, if you so wish it.  Then, when I am returned to a body of my own, together, we can make it so that wizards rule over Muggles.  Never again will you be forced to serve those monsters that call themselves your aunt and uncle.  Never again will a witch or wizard grow up ignorant of their heritage.  What do you say, Harry?”  Normally, the Millennium Necklace would allow Voldemort to see Harry’s decision, but the Necklace had shown him what would have happened with his original plan, forcing Voldemort to change his plan, and he had not used the Necklace to see the future since.

Harry would have to admit that he was tempted to give in.  Being able to live with his parents again _and_ never see the Dursleys?  That was his greatest dream.  But at what cost?  “Forget it, Voldemort!  My parents died to stop you, I doubt that they would be happy if they learned I joined you to bring them back!”

“Oh, so unwise,” Voldemort stated.  “Quirrell, kill him, and make sure not to touch him!” Voldemort ordered.  Harry thought that was an odd order, so before Quirrell could attack, he quickly cast his favourite duelling spell: _expelliarmus_ , instantly disarming him before running at the DADA professor/Dark Lord.  As soon as Harry grabbed the professor, his body started turning to ash!  “NO!  Not again!” Voldemort cried out as he abandoned Quirrell.  Harry quickly pulled back, as Quirrell fell to the ground, dead.  Harry would later learn that he died of a combination of the stress of the possession, the damage Harry did, and the side effects of drinking unicorn blood to strengthen himself.  But Harry himself passed out due to magical exhaustion from the burning damage he did to Quirrell, even if it was subconscious.

 

Fortunately, Harry recovered soon enough to take his end-of-the-year tests, and to join in the Hogwarts Tournament Finals against Draco, and the cameras were back to film it.  “I hope you’ve fully recovered, Potter, because I don’t want to duel you at anything but your best!”

“Oh, I’m ready, Malfoy!  Bring it on!  Let’s see what you’ve learned this year,” Harry retorted.  “Let’s duel!  You can go first, since you _are_ the rookie!”

“Rookie?!  I’ll show you rookie!” Draco yelled.  “I play Goblin Elite Attack Force in Attack Mode, and two cards face down.”

Harry drew his cards, and instantly smirked.  “I play one card face down, and activate the Magic card, Final Countdown!  If we haven’t finished in nineteen turns, you lose regardless of Life Points or Monsters!”

Draco paled at that.  A card that ends a duel in twenty turns?  He’d need to act fast.  And since when did Harry have that in his deck?  “I play Theban Nightmare in Attack Mode, and one card face down.  I also attack with my Goblins!”  Harry’s facedown was destroyed, revealing _another_ card Draco didn’t recognize.  How many cards did Harry have that he didn’t know about?

Harry drew his card.  “I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, and destroy your middle face down card.”

Draco paled at that, as Harry had just destroyed his Magic Cylinder, which would have been very useful when Harry finally declared an attack.  Speaking of which, why had he not played another monster?  Was it possible that he hadn’t drawn another one?  If so, then he was probably buying time until that Final Countdown activated.  This was the third turn since he played it, meaning seventeen were left.  “I play Gearfried, the Iron Knight in Attack Mode and end my turn.”

In truth, Harry had one more monster in his hand, but considering what it was, he was holding onto it.  Fortunately he had just drawn another monster, a strong one.  “I summon Cyber Dragon in Attack Mode, equip it with Black Pendant and attack your Goblins!”

Draco winced at that, as his Goblins were his most powerful monsters on the field, yet due to their effect, they were forced into Defence mode after any attack.  “I switch my monsters into Defence Mode, and play another monster face down, and I’ll end my turn.”

Harry grinned, he _knew_ Draco would start hiding after summoning Cyber Dragon.  “I play one card face down and summon Black Stego in Attack Mode.  Now, Black Stego, attack his Nightmare!”  With a roar and the swing of a tail, Draco’s Theban Nightmare was destroyed.  “Your move, Malfoy.”

Draco drew his card, but it wasn’t one that could help much.  But when he looked over his cards again, and found one that _could_ work!  “I summon Fabled Ashenveil in Defence Mode, switch Gearfried into Attack Mode, and reveal my face down card, the Archfiend of Gilfer!  Now, I equip my Archfiend with the Malevolent Nuzzler, and attack your Cyber Dragon!”

“Sorry Malfoy, but you just activated my trap: Dust Tornado, and I use it to destroy your Malevolent Nuzzler!  Meaning you lose 100 Life Points!” Harry countered.

“Hmm, good move, but I’m not done yet!  Gearfried, destroy his dinosaur!” Draco continued.

“Nice try on my life points, but Black Stego’s special ability has just kicked in!  Whenever he is attacked, he automatically goes into Defence Mode!  Now, my turn.  First, remember that we are now down to fifteen more turns before I win.  Second, I play one card face down, and activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the face down card on your left!”  In seconds, Draco’s Smashing Ground was destroyed, rendering it useless.  “Now, Cyber Dragon, destroy his Gearfried!”

Draco winced.  Not only had he lost a very useful Magic card, but he was knocked from full health to a mere 600 Life Points!  “I play one card face down and end my turn.”  His own Dust Tornado just might be able to finally turn things around for him!

Harry grinned at his draw card.  “I play one card face down, and now I activate my trap card, Dust Tornado, and use it to destroy your newest face down card!”  Draco nearly panicked at that move, that destroyed any attempt he could make on that bloody Cyber Dragon!  “Now, Cyber Dragon, destroy his Ashenveil!  And that will end my turn.”

Draco was pale, he was basically doomed!  “I play one card face down, and play Monster Reborn in order to summon Archfiend of Gilfer in Defence Mode.”

Harry just smiled at his rival/friend and decided to take it easy on him, especially since all his monsters were in Defence Mode!  “I’ll pass, Malfoy.  Your move.”

Draco grinned as he finally pulled a useful card.  “I switch my Archfiend into attack mode, and equip it with Rush Recklessly!  Now my fiend, destroy his dragon!  Your move, Harry.”

Harry grinned.  So, Draco had finally managed to hit his life points, huh?  Time to finish him off then.  “Sorry Malfoy, but I play Odd-Eyes Dragon in Attack Mode, and attack your face down card!  And thanks to his special ability, you lose half of that monster’s attack points from your life points!”

With the attack of Harry’s Odd-Eyes, Draco’s Lancer Lindwurm was destroyed, and since it had 1800 attack points, he lost, or rather would have lost 900 life points.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have that many.  “Good game, Potter, but I expect my Red Eyes as you promised.”

Harry grinned back.  “Oh, don’t worry, you will, and more.  As it happens, I also gained another half dozen support cards.  I think you will be pleased.”

“Good, just one question: how did you hide all those cards?  I’ve never seen you use them before!”

Harry grinned.  “That’s easy, I am unlike any other duellist here.  I have more than one deck, and I kept my newest one for you.  I just didn’t think it would be so easy to beat you!”  Draco scowled as he stormed off, but once they were alone, Harry apologized, and they ended the year as they had started it, as friends.


	3. Seto Kaiba Comes to Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, no one has said a thing about pairings for the Yu-Gi-Oh! characters, so I’ll say something to motivate you. Whoever is picked for Yugi’s boy/girlfriend will influence the ending of this story.

Come Harry’s Third Year, he still reigned as Duel King of Hogwarts, partly due to the fact that basilisk attacks had cancelled all extracurricular activities. On the bright side, he had still duelled the best in the other three Houses on their way back to King’s Cross, and won, and he had managed to do something believed to be impossible. Also, he managed to get Neville into playing after he gave his friend a deck that seemed all too perfect for the other Gryffindor. With all the talk of how far back the students could trace their family back. When Neville explained that he could trace his family back to the days of Arthur, and more specifically to Gawain of the Round Table, Harry knew exactly what deck to give him.

This year, there were no foreseeable reasons for the tournament to be cancelled or delayed, outside of Sirius Black, that is. Sirius Black was a recently escaped prisoner from Azkaban, charged with mass murder and treason by siding with Voldemort and he was supposedly after Harry. However, Draco had revealed that Sirius, his mother’s cousin and Harry‘s godfather, had only been charged, never convicted, and there was no way that he was guilty. Unfortunately, between the terrible reputation of the Black family in general and Sirius in particular, no magical lawyer would take the case to clear his name.

But things got even worse for Harry. Because of Sirius’ reputation, Harry wasn’t allowed to join his friends in visiting the wizarding village of Hogsmeade. On the bright side, it did allow him more time to study, especially his new favourite class of Ancient Runes. He still smiled when he remembered his first class.

_“Welcome class, to Ancient Runes,” Professor Vector started. “There are many different kinds of ancient runes, each with their own abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Over the course of the next three years that I know I will have you, I will teach you several different runic alphabets and how to combine the most compatible ones. Now, normally I would start off with the most used runic alphabet, that used by the Norse. However, since Duel Monsters is so popular, I have had to change my schedule around and we are currently starting with Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.”_

_“Why the change, Professor?” Hermione asked._

_“Because I know how popular the game is, and I know how popular the illusion enchantment is. An intriguing thing about the Duel Monsters cards is that while any runic enchantment will work on them, the best enchantment comes from Egyptian hieroglyphs. I could just cover that, but I have found that it is best to cover the runic schemes one at a time. Our next scheme will be the Norse runes, and we will continue with my old schedule from then on, which means we won’t hit Egyptian hieratic until your Fifth Year.”_

Harry also used his spare time to boost his magical senses and work on becoming an animagus, which were surprisingly intertwined. By boosting his magical senses, Harry was able to get more in touch with his own spirit, making it easier to find his form, and his form would also boost his senses. He was very close to finding his form, and with the magical senses he had found something very strange inside even the unenchanted Duel Monster decks, though what it was, he had yet to find out. Eh, maybe he could work on that now, since everyone else was at Hogsmeade.

 

At Hogsmeade, something was happening that had never happened there before: a helicopter was landing just outside the village. Never before had a mundane visited the village, let alone one as rich and famous as this one: Seto Kaiba. The young CEO had a determined look on his face as he strode through the village, he was going to let no one stop him from his goal of speaking to one young duellist in particular. Fortunately for him, he was quick to find two people who would know without a doubt where he was. “Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy, can you tell me where Harry Potter is?” Seto asked.

“Harry can’t come to Hogsmeade, so he’s still at Hogwarts,” Hermione answered. “He should be in the library, the Great Hall or the Room of Requirement, depending on what he’s doing.”

Seto nodded his thanks, and headed up to the castle, prepared to face the one duellist that had done what no one besides himself had done: collected three Blue Eyes White Dragons. Fortunately, finding Harry was very easy, as he was sitting in the Great Hall, studying his decks. “Harry Potter?”

“Yes?” Harry asked before looking up. “Seto Kaiba? What do you want with me?”

“I’ve heard that you’ve collected three Blue Eyes White Dragons. Is that true?”

“Yes, it’s true. Why?"

With that, Seto placed his briefcase on the table and opened it, revealing a large number of rare cards inside. “I’m willing to trade all of these for your Blue Eyes, and more.”

Harry stared at the cards, and while he did desire the cards, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it. I will not give up my dragons.”

“What?! Why not?” Seto demanded.

“Because while your cards are valuable, and useful, I won’t give up my dragons for anything, not even a monster even more powerful. It’s true that I got lucky when I bought these cards, but I also earned them the hard way: I set them up as prizes in our school tournaments and defeated every duellist I faced. So no, Seto Kaiba, I won’t give them up, I value them too much.”

Seto stared at the young celebrity, shocked to find someone who valued and respected Blue Eyes as much as he did. “You truly value Blue Eyes that much? Then what can I do but respect that decision? But I think you should know, there are rumours of some big tournament coming up, and the best duellists will be invited. Should we find ourselves facing each other, I hope you don’t mind if we see which of us is the true master of Blue Eyes.”

Harry grinned at the CEO. “Sure thing, but I wonder if you could do something for me first. My godfather, Sirius Black was thrown in prison without a trial. All the lawyers in this world only see his family name and won’t lift a finger to help him. Could you send one of your lawyers to try and free him? If you do, I can promise at least two more investors for Kaiba Corp.”

“You have yourself a deal, Harry. But I’ll do better than just sending a lawyer, I’ll send Johnson, the best lawyer my company has, and an expert in both magical and mundane law. If he can’t free your godfather, no one can.”

 

Johnson was as good as Seto claimed, because by New Years, Sirius was proven innocent of all charges, and by the time of the Hogwarts Duel Monster Finals, Sirius had fully recovered from his time in Azkaban and was there to watch the duel. (Johnson had been quite shocked that he hadn’t even needed to resort to his usual legal trickery to free Sirius, as the evidence against him was circumstantial at best.) Once again, the finals had come down to Harry vs. Draco, and as much as everyone had looked forward to the Quidditch finals, they looked forward even more to the duel. Hermione had done well, but was felled by a Ravenclaw, and Neville had done even better, thanks to a deck Harry had given him the previous year as a present, but Draco managed to defeat him, even with Neville’s secret weapon. “I hope you’re prepared, Potter. I’ve reworked my deck to be even more powerful than before!” Draco called out as the duel was about to begin.

“So you say, Malfoy. But I’ll believe it when I see it. For now, let the game begin!” Harry countered, ending with what had become his catch phrase. Draco won the coin toss, and he chose to let Harry go first. “Alright, I’ll play Alexandrite Dragon in Attack Mode and one card face down. Your move, Malfoy,” Harry stated, as a jewel-encrusted dragon appeared.

Draco grinned as he looked at his cards, instantly spotting the key monster in his deck. However, he didn’t play it yet, he had another plan. “I play one card face down, and one monster in Defence Mode. Your move, Potter.”

“I play another card face down, and summon Mist Valley Falcon in Attack Mode,” Harry stated, only for the winged human to disappear. “What? What happened to my Falcon?” Harry asked in shock.

“You activated my trap card: Trap Hole!” Draco explained. “When you summon a monster with more than 1,000 attack points, my Trap Hole activates and instantly destroys it. Anything more you want to do, Potter?”

“Yes, I attack with my Alexandrite Dragon. Say goodbye to your last card, Malfoy!” But as soon as the dragon attack, not only did Draco’s monster get destroyed, but so did Harry’s dragon! “What?! What happened this time?”

“You destroyed my Exploder Dragon, a monster with a very interesting effect. When my dragon is destroyed in battle, it destroys the monster that attacked it! So, while I have no monsters, neither do you! Now, it’s my move. I summon my Dodger Dragon in Attack Mode and end my turn.”

“Fine,” Harry stated. “I summon Maha Vailo in Attack mode, and now I activate one of my facedown cards: Enemy Controller! Now, I can use it to put your Dodger Dragon in Defence Mode. Now, I attack your dragon! Your move,” Harry finished, as the dragon was destroyed. He was shocked that Draco had done so well, he must have practiced a lot over the past year.

Draco grinned at the card he just drew. “Harry, it’s time to start damaging your life points! I summon my Red-Eyes Wyvern in Attack Mode, and now I destroy your Maha Vailo!”

“I activate my trap card, Pinpoint Guard to summon my Mist Valley Falcon in Defence Mode! I may still lose life points, but at least I still have a monster.” Indeed, Harry had dropped to 1750 life points, something that shocked every single member of the audience. Harry had never been the one losing, especially not this early!

“Well, that doesn’t matter, you’re still losing, Potter! So much for being the reigning duel king of Hogwarts! I summon my Lord of Dragons in Attack Mode. And now my Wyvern, destroy his Falcon! Your move.” But Harry only placed one monster face down before letting Draco go again. “Fine, I place one card face down, and now I attack your face down card with my Wyvern!”

Harry grinned. “Thanks for the help, Malfoy. By destroying my Sonic Bird, I get to add a Ritual Card to my hand. Now, I place two cards face down and summon my Blade Knight and attack your Lord of Dragons!”

“Sorry, but I activate my Mirror Force! Now, I summon my Axe Dragonute and end my turn. Your move, Potter.”

Harry drew a card before starting to grin, a sign that all had come to recognize as a sign that he had won. “Time for you to lose, Malfoy. I play Time Wizard!”

“Time Wizard?” Draco asked in confusion. “What’s that do?”

“It’s quite simple, Malfoy. You see the staff he’s holding? On the top is a roulette wheel. If the spinner stops on a skull, I lose life points. But if it lands on the other symbol, then you lose all your monsters! So go, time roulette!” Instantly the roulette arrow began to spin, and then slow down, making it’s last moves in ticks before finally ending on the red symbol that only Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters knew what it was. Instantly, the Time Wizard activated a time vortex, and all three monsters were destroyed. And to make things even better, with their destruction, they each took a chunk of Draco’s life points, with their total adding up high enough to completely annihilate Draco.

“A single move. I lost to a single move and a little bad luck?! But Harry, what was the card you had just drawn? You’d had Time Wizard for a couple turns, so what was it?”

Harry just grinned at his friend/rival. “Now Draco, you don’t expect me to give up all of my secrets, do you? You’ll just have to wait and find out, if you’re lucky.”

 

On the last day of school, Harry was shocked to find that Sirius’ guardianship hadn’t been approved of due to the actions of the Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore who had sealed the Potter’s wills. So, Harry and Sirius went to confront him in his office. Dumbledore was expecting them. “I know you wish to know why I sealed the will, boys. And I am willing to explain. With Sirius and Remus unavailable to claim you for various reasons, Harry, you would have gone to the nearest relatives: Sirius’ cousin, Narcissa. While I know that you and Draco have become good friends, you also know how dangerous Lucius is, and that he is solidly on Voldemort’s side. That is just the first reason. The second is that even if they didn’t claim you, then the Ministry would put you with someone under their control and they would use you. The third and final reason is due to your mother’s protection. Due to your mother’s sacrifice, I knew there was a way to protect you from any who would do you harm thanks to the ancient magic she used to save you, and even better, it was a form of magic that Voldemort didn’t know. So long as you could consider your aunt’s home as your own, you would be untouchable. So I set up the blood wards in secret while you were at Hogwarts being looked over by Madame Pomfrey. However, between what I have learned of how you were treated and the security of the Black properties, I am willing to unseal the will and follow your parents wishes. Sirius, Harry, you will be required to be at the Wizengamot meeting on the 6th in order to accept their ruling and make your guardianship of Harry legal. I wish you the best of luck, my boys,” Dumbledore finished.

 

Sure enough, after the Wizengamot meeting, Sirius was granted custody of Harry, and they moved into the Black family’s London townhouse of 12 Grimmauld Place. Inside, Harry found a library like none he had ever seen, and due to the Black’s propensity for Dark magic, he knew it would help him. “Sirius, do you have any books on basilisks?” he asked.

“Sure, what for kiddo?”

“I just want to know if I should expect anything to happen to me since I was bitten last year. Could you help me out?” The first thing Sirius had done after the house had been cleaned was to have Harry talk about his Hogwarts years, including his encounter with Slytherin’s basilisk and Tom Riddle’s diary the previous year. Nodding, Sirius was quick to find a book for Harry and give it to him, after making sure it was clear of any hexes or curses. Harry spent the next few hours reading it before he found what he was looking for. It turned out that he didn’t have anything to worry about, but he did discover something else about the venom that led him to look up another subject. On reading the other subject, Harry froze in shock as he realized the implications it had for him. Now what was he going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, one more chapter, and the real crossover will begin. Next time, the Tri-Wizard Tournament will begin, and Harry will receive a message leading him to another tournament of a far different sort, with very high stakes! Also, my own origin of the Shadow Games will be revealed, explaining why we see two completely different styles of duelling in the series, how Pegasus determined the level of the monsters, and the origin of the monster tablets.


	4. Shadow Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we don’t go quite as far as I had hoped with this, but the crossover elements continue to grow stronger in this chapter. While I had planned for a particular Shadow Game in this chapter, it has been delayed to the next chapter, but you get a far grander one instead!

Harry’s fourteenth birthday was celebrated at the Quidditch World Cup along with all his friends, and the remaining brothers of the Weasley family, including one William ‘Bill’ Weasley, a curse breaker who worked amongst the tombs of Egypt (including, unbeknownst to him, the very one that Voldemort himself had visited four years earlier.) Bill had also acquired a magical item from the tomb: a pair of golden scales that the goblins wanted nothing to do with, so he decided to hold onto it, until now. For now he was going to give it to Harry because something inside him told him that he was destined to hold it. “Here you go, Harry. A birthday present from the sands of Egypt. Considering what it is, I’m hoping it will help you get some justice in your life.”

Harry stared in shock at the scales, easily sensing the dark magic in the item. “Where did you get it? And what is it?”

“They’re called the Millennium Scales, and I found them in a tomb that describes a magic called the Shadow Games, which a number of people believe is the origin of the modern Duel Monsters. And the story told on those walls is pretty convincing.”

“Really? What’s the story?” Hermione demanded.

Bill grinned. His favourite perk of the job was being able to tell stories like this one. “Well, it starts more than 9,000 years ago, with an Egyptian warlord known only as the Scorpion King. It’s not recorded how, but he managed to tap into a portion of his soul that the Egyptians called the _sheut_ , or shadow and he brought a monster out of it, one that he called the Mystical Beast of Serket, after his patron goddess. For years he used the beast to conquer the surrounding lands, none dared challenge him. But as he grew older, it became more difficult to summon his monster, so he turned to his priests and asked them to create a ritual that would make it easier to summon his monster. They managed to do it, but to their shock, during the ritual they discovered that they also had _sheut_ monsters inside them. As Egypt slowly merged to become one nation, the pharaohs all had their _sheut_ monsters extracted and placed into stone tablets, and they proclaimed that if anyone wanted relief from their taxes, they could go to the House of Life and have their _sheut_ monsters extracted. Depending on the power of the monster, their taxes would be forgiven for any time between one and eight years.

“But as with all power, some people used if for their own selfish purposes, usually to duel with their rivals for wealth and power instead of giving them to the House of Life. Eventually the Shadow Magic became so powerful that the pharaohs believed it could defend Egypt from anything. The problem was that the monster tablets were huge, like Hagrid-size huge, and summoning any monster used up their own energy. So they needed to find a way to summon the monsters easily _and_ use them without having their tablets around. After a mere 100 years of research, they created something called a _diadhank_ , a device that allowed them to keep the monster tablets in temples and still summon them. Using the _diadhank_ , the Egyptians grew powerful, enough that they managed to fight and defeat the legendary and powerful Atlantis when their king went mad and attempted to destroy the world.

“The _diadhank_ s were used for three thousand years without change. Shadow magic became so popular and powerful that Egypt stopped using their army for anything more than a police force. In that time, the House of Life discovered a grimoire specifically for the Shadow Games called the Millennium Scroll, which was eventually used to create the Millennium Items. Then, about 5,000 years ago, the Shadow Games somehow unleashed a monster with the power to destroy the world, and the young pharaoh of the time sealed the magic away in the Millennium Items until such a time that the being that had been unleashed could be destroyed forever,” Bill stated. “Or at least, so goes the story,” he finished with a grin. “That creature, or whatever it was led to what is called the Great Gap, a time of about 150 years in which we know nothing of Egyptian history. It wasn’t until Pharaoh Narmer arrived on the scene that Egypt really recovered from the Shadow Games.”

 

About two months after the Quidditch World Cup, Harry was shocked to feel an enormous burst of magic, and an accompanying burst of knowledge from the Millennium Scales. It revealed that it’s original purpose was to fuse monsters and judge souls, and that it had awakened because ‘the Shadow Master is awake,’ whatever that meant. All he knew was that the Scales seemed almost _happy_ at the news. Ever since then, however, it had been going off around Professor Moody, so Harry had started leaving it in his trunk. Now it was Halloween, and Harry just _knew_ that his typical bad luck was about to strike again. It was the night of the choosing of the champions for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and considering his typical bad luck when it came to Halloween, he didn’t have much hope that he would get out of this.

One by one the champions were announced. The internationally renowned seeker Viktor Krum for Durmstrang, the part Veela Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons, and prefect Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts. But sure enough, just as Harry feared, the Goblet of Fire spat out a fourth name “Harry Potter,” as Dumbledore stated.

Harry stood up and stated “I solemnly swear on my honour and my magic that neither I nor anyone with my knowledge or support placed my name in the Goblet, and that whoever did so is an enemy of House Potter, so mote it be!” His magic confirmed the vow with a flash of light. “Now, just so you know that what I said is true, _Expecto Patronum_!” and sure enough, Prongs burst out of his wand, much to everyone’s surprise. “No one’s going to claim I put myself into this now,” Harry said with a glimmer of hope.

 

A month later and Harry had learned that sometimes the truth simply didn’t matter to people. He had _proved_ to them that he didn’t put his name in, and most didn’t even care. Except for his closest friends, everyone had believed that he cheated, and as a result did their best to discourage him. At the head of the pack was the one that Harry had hoped would do the least: his fellow champion: Cedric Diggory. The so-called perfect Hufflepuff had revealed himself to be an extremely dangerous enemy, especially since nothing could be tied back to him.

But Harry was about to have his revenge. Because now was the time for the First Task, and Harry knew what it was, while Diggory did not, meaning that Harry would have the advantage. Ludo Bagman quickly showed up with the other judges, and after having the champions gather in a circle around him, held out a bag. “Inside are representations of your first challenge, seeing as how there are different varieties, you will need to choose which you will face.” Diggory paled at the statement, clearly worried at what they would face. Fleur made the first choice, pulling out a Welsh Green with a number 1 hanging around it’s neck. Krum was next with the Chinese Fireball and the number 3. Cedric was fourth and pulled “Ooh, the American Tlilticoatl.” Everyone stared in shock at the dragon, as it bore a remarkable resemblance to Duel Monster’s Red Eyes Black Dragon.

But if they were shocked when Diggory drew his dragon, they were nearly petrified when Harry drew _his_ dragon, one with a roar so familiar that Harry recognized it instantly, even without looking at it. “And the Egyptian Al-Tineen Al Abyad. Now I can tell you your goal. Each of the dragons you hold represent a very real dragon, each one protecting their nest. Inside the nest is a single egg that doesn’t belong. Your goal: collect the golden egg, because without it, you cannot prepare for the second task,” Bartemius Crouch stated. Upon seeing his dragon, Harry grinned as instantly changed his strategy; he had a far better strategy than simply summoning his broom. Also, he knew that he just _had_ to keep the model, Seto would kill him if he didn’t keep it! And it was bad business to kill your investors, especially ones as loyal as Harry was to Seto.

But until then he would watch his fellow champions make their attempts against the dragons. Fortunately, he didn’t even have to leave the tent, as news reporters were at Hogwarts to record the first Tri-Wizard Tournament in more than a century. He watched as Fleur used her Veela abilities to subdue the Welsh Green and easily acquire the egg, while Krum used a curse to blind the dragon, causing it to smash many of it’s own eggs as it writhed in pain. But most amusing was Diggory’s attempt. He transfigured a rock into a dog, but Red Eyes wasn’t interested. She quickly blasted the dog before shooting several of her inferno fire blasts at him. Diggory only barely managed to avoid them, only to go straight for the nest, causing the dragon to slash at him with her claws. It wasn’t until she tail-whipped him and knocked him unconscious that the dragon handlers jumped in and stunned her, allowing them to pull Diggory out without the golden egg.

Now, it was his turn, and Harry couldn’t wait to see Seto’s reaction to his dragon, and how he took care of her. As soon as he was allowed into the arena where they kept the dragons, he called out “ _Accio_ duel disk!” And sure enough, the prototype duel disk that Seto had sent him came flying to him. Harry quickly strapped it on and picked the one card that would help him win this challenge. “Now I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon!” he called out as he spun the duel disk out to confront the dragon. Instantly the sophisticated holographic system activated, and with a rain of light, the holographic version of said card appeared, facing the Al Tineen. The real dragon stared at it’s holographic duplicate in confusion, the two dragons keeping each other busy, constantly roaring and occasionally shooting out their white lightning blasts, neither of which did any damage to the other, much to the real dragon’s confusion. While they did that, Harry snuck to the nest and grabbed the golden egg, leaving the white ‘stones’ alone before dashing back to the tent. Harry grinned, that had gone much better than his original plan. Really, what was Moody thinking, having him try to out fly a dragon? Sure, he was the youngest Seeker in a century with the best broom in the world, but dragons truly _were_ born flyers.

Following the challenge, Harry was swarmed by reporters demanding to know how he did that. “Thanks to this,” Harry explained, showing them the duel disk. “This is a prototype duel disk created by Seto Kaiba of KaibaCorps. Only a handful of these exist in the entire world, two of them given to each of the duellist stockholders of KaibaCorps in order to test them out.”

“And what do you think of them?” the BBC reporter asked.

“While the idea is a good one, I think Seto has a little more work to do before they reach their full potential. Right now, it only has enough places for five cards total, and it would get tiring to spin the projector out every turn. But I will discuss my ideas on how to improve it with Seto personally. I wouldn’t be surprised if every duellist would be clamouring to own a duel disk inside of two years.”

“Why change what we already have?” Rita Skeeter asked. She had built a reputation as a champion of the conservatives and distrusting of any change at all, let alone the kind of changes that people like Seto Kaiba brought. Well, that and being the biggest gossip of any serious reporter in either world.

“Because these duel disks have the potential for _anyone_ to get the full duel arena experience wherever they want, even at home! Sure the regular card game is good, but the holograms make it addicting!” Harry explained before he left to go to the victory party he knew the Twins were planning for him.

 

A month later in December, and Harry was preparing for the scariest thing in his life. Within an hour of the end of the First Task, Maximillion Pegasus and Seto Kaiba announced that they were going to use their fortunes to pay for and support reserves specifically for the protection of the Al-Tineen and Tlilticoatl. Harry’s tentative friendship with Ron was finally over. While their relationship had somewhat recovered after Harry’s success in Quidditch and obvious rivalry with Draco, it had suffered again when Ron realized that their rivalry was a friendly one, and it completely died after Harry’s name came out of the Goblet and Harry learned that he had known about the dragons and done nothing to warn Harry.

But right now, Harry was preparing for the most unexpected and hardest task ever. They had just been informed that there was going to be a ball to celebrate Yule, the old pagan/wizarding holiday celebrating the darkest day of the year, and the champions were expected to have a date for the ball. Harry’s mind had jumped to only one person he could possibly ask to be his date, his best friend and the only person he could see spending the rest of his life with: Hermione Grange. He took a deep breath and stepped into the Great Hall, preparing to ask her. But the second he stepped inside, the room turned cold and dark, and the floor started rippling like the surface of the Black Loch did when the Giant Squid raised it’s tentacles out of the water. And that seemed to be a most appropriate analogy, as an Egyptian man came out of the centre of the rippling, one dressed in the classical robes and turban, but with two gold rings in his ears and a large golden ankh worn on a necklace. But the strangest thing about him was his eyes, which were completely blue, with no hint of a pupil. “Who are you? Harry demanded.

“I am the guardian of the seven Millennium Items. I have been the keeper of the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs for five millennia. I am a servant of Anubis. My name is Shadi, and I am here because the mystical balance has been upset. I seek the thief who stole the Millennium Scales.”

Harry raised his eyebrow at that. “I have the Scales, but I didn’t steal them, they were given to me by the brother of a pair of good friends. And he didn’t steal them either, he collected them from a tomb for his job, and the goblins didn’t want them so he gave them to me.”

“Then the Millennium Scales themselves shall judge your words, as shall the Millennium Key, let the Shadow Game begin!”

 

The next thing Harry knew, he was in a room that was covered in shadows, and the cold, dark feeling he knew from Shadi’s arrival. “Welcome Harry, to the beginning of the Shadow Games,” a _very_ familiar voice called out.

“Is that you, _Tom_?” Harry called out. He _knew_ that voice, but who was it? And why did it feel like something was missing from his life?

“No, I’m not him, Harry.”

“Then who are you?”

“I’m you, and you are me, sort of. I’m your dark side,” the voice stated as the owner stepped into the little light in the room. And to Harry’s shock, he saw a duplicate of himself, though one with brighter eyes, and slightly intangible. “Shadi has started a Shadow Game to see if we are worthy of wielding the Millennium Scales. We have to win all of them, for if we lose even one, we will be trapped in the Shadow Realm forever. This first Game is a chess game between the two of us, the winner moves on in control of our body. Are you ready?”

“And how do I know that you really are me, let alone my dark side?” Harry demanded.

The other grinned at him. “There’s the paranoia that Moody’s been nurturing. When the Dursleys beat us, I am the one that wished we could use magic against them. When Moody taught us about the Unforgivables, I was the one that wished we could turn them against the Dursleys, and the Cruciatus against Voldemort before turning the Killing Curse against him, just as he did our parents. I’m the one that _almost_ wanted to accept Tom’s offer, if it weren’t for the fact that that would mean betraying Hermione and Mum. So my light, good enough?”

Harry simply grinned at the being he now knew _was_ his other half, “You know what I say, let the games begin!” Thanks to the continual games of chess against Ron and Seto, the two were much better tacticians then they were before they came to Hogwarts, but it wasn’t long before Harry noticed there was a slight problem to the game. “Yami, we have a problem,” Harry stated.

“Yami?” the other asked.

“Well, Yami is the name of the field spell that boosts the strength of Dark monsters, so I thought it fit,” Harry explained.

“Ah, that does make sense. Now, what’s the problem?” Yami asked.

“Have you noticed the board? It’s too big for a normal chess game, and the shape is completely wrong. There are other players here,” Harry explained.

Yami Harry examined what his light half claimed, and was shocked to notice that he was right. “Five, there are a total of five players on this board,” Yami whispered, and as soon as he stated it, the other three chess sets were revealed. And they both noticed that the kings had changed to be far more personal in looks. “Notice the kings?” Yami asked. “Two of us, representing our nature, one Dumbledore, one Fudge, and one of the Dark Lord. We’re playing out the war here,” he realized.

Harry couldn’t help but agree with him. “Then there’s only one way to win, Yami.”

“And how’s that?”

“By working together,” Harry stated. “If you go it alone, you’ll end up no better than Tom. If I go it alone, I’ll end up dead because Light spells aren’t strong enough to take on someone like Tom. We need each other to balance out, the strength of the Dark with the compassion of the Light.”

Yami just grinned at that. “Well then, shall we shake on it?” Harry nodded, and the two halves reached across the board and shook hands. But as soon as they did, a bright light flashed, and both were knocked unconscious.

 

When Harry woke up again, the first thing he noticed was that he felt whole again, meaning Yami was once again part of him. The second thing he noticed was that he was still in the Shadow Realm, and that this time it had taken the form of the Dark Forest, somewhere near the Whomping Willow. All around him, the lost souls bound in the Shadow Realm whispered, doing their best to depress him, yet he couldn’t figure out why. What was this Game all about?

Then, out of nowhere, Sirius showed up! “Sirius, what are you doing here?” Harry demanded. His godfather had moved to Hogsmeade upon learning that Harry was forced to take place in the Tournament, but this version of Sirius looked _very_ different from the Sirius he had lived with since the end of Third Year. In fact, he almost looked like the man he had seen in the wanted posters and at his trial: someone who had spent years in Azkaban, one who more resembled one of the living dead than someone who was truly alive. And he was wearing prison clothes. “What’s this test about?” Harry demanded, hoping that this Sirius was there to help him as much as Yami had been.

“Harry, run! The Dementors are coming!” Sirius called out. And sure enough, the cold that always came with the guards of Azkaban was coming, the lake by them was freezing over from the cold that followed the spirits.

Somehow, Harry knew what he had to do, he had to defeat his worst fear: the Dementors, something he had yet to do. And to make things worse, he had to do it in the Shadow Realm, where the lost souls made the Dementors even effects even worse! And worst of all, he feared that fighting them in the Shadow Realm meant that he could still lose his soul if he couldn’t summon his patronus. But he had to do it, he had no choice. Fortunately, between knowing that he could do it, and with the many happy memories he had to choose from now, summoning Prongs should be easy. “ _Expecto Patronum_!” he called out, just as _hundreds_ of Dementors descended on him and Sirius. Instantly, Prongs charged out and attacked the Dementors, driving most of them away.

Confused, Harry took a close look at the remaining Dementors, only to realize that they _weren’t_ Dementors! They were Reapers of the Cards, a dangerous Monster that could be used to destroy Spells. He looked into the deck that he carried with him for a monster strong enough to destroy it, and was shocked to find that it was a deck of nothing more than spells and traps. How could he beat them with such a limited deck? Then inspiration hit. Putting a hand on the Millennium Scales, Harry pulled one particular card from his deck and called out “I play Mirror Force!” And sure enough, the Heart of the Cards came through for him, and not only did he actually draw it, but the trap worked exactly as it should, the Reaper‘s attacks was turned against them, destroying ever single reaper. Once they had been destroyed, Harry blacked out again.

 

When Harry woke up for the third and final Shadow Game, he found himself just outside Hogwarts looking out at the Dark Forest. “Great, now what?” he wondered.

“Harry Potter, you have found balance with your darkness and faced your greatest fears. Now you must pass one final test: the test of courage and strength. To pass, you must find your friend and save her from the monsters inside the forest,” Shadi announced from wherever he was watching. “But be warned, not only are there monsters that are far more dangerous than any you have ever faced, but her fate is at stake as well. For if you fail, then she shall fall to the Shadows as well.”

“A test of courage? Haven’t you heard? Gryffindors charge ahead where angels and fools fear to tread!” Harry called out before charging into the forest. But before he went very far, he realized something. “Wait, what do you mean, her? Her who, Shadi?” he asked. Shadi never answered, outside of an image that flashed in his head: Hermione. Okay, now he was _mad_. How dare he pull Hermione into this?! Fortunately Hermione had just shown him a locator spell and he cast it as quickly as he could. There was no way in _hell_ that he was going to let her be in the Dark Forest any longer than necessary, not with what he knew was in there! Unfortunately, he knew exactly where the spell was leading him: the nest of Aragog and his family of acromantula. Could it really get any worse? Harry quickly summoned his Firebolt and flew as fast as he could into the forest.

Just as he feared, when he found Hermione, she had already been caught by the unnaturally large spiders, and they were moving in to feed on her. Not on his watch, they weren’t! In seconds he was casting curse after curse at the spiders who came even close to Hermione. Finally, they got the idea and backed off, allowing Harry to land and cut her out of the web, then he cast a _rennervate_ to wake her up. “Harry, what’s going on? Where are we?” she asked, completely confused.

“Remember the Millennium Scales that Bill gave me at the World Cup?” he starts out. When she nodded, he explained “Turns out, there’s this nut who thinks I stole them and I have to prove that I _deserve_ to keep them. To make things worse, his dragged you into these mad tests.”

“And this is different from our normal lives, how?” Hermione asked with a grin. Harry just grinned back. Merlin, but he loved this woman!

But before he could take Hermione and escape, a bright, _Avada Kedavra_ green glow appeared, revealing pair of circles descending from the sky, with enochian runes between the two circles. And as soon as the circles landed, a unicursal hexagram was created inside, something that Harry and Hermione recognized as a magical seal, and a very ancient one, considering the enochian runes. It instantly gave both young magic users a terrible feeling, but the seal was just the beginning, as an earthquake began, cracking the earth open and releasing a black mist, which soon solidified into a humanoid figure wearing armour, and the same seal on its forehead. However, there was a strange thing about this creature’s armour: on one of it’s arms, it held a blade that seemed almost like the boards for Duel Monsters.

Harry’s assumption was proven correct when one of the rectangles on the blade glowed green, and an enormous, muscular brown humanoid appeared and attempted to hit the duo. “I don’t have time for this. _Nisear_!” Harry called out. The Parselmagic burning curse instantly destroyed the monster before consuming the soldier. And as soon as the soldier was destroyed, the seal evaporated, allowing the curse to continue consuming everything it could. Harry ignored the destruction his spell was causing and jumped back on his broom before turning to Hermione. “If you want to live, get on!”

Naturally, Hermione obeyed, and the two of them flew out of the forest. It was only then that Harry ended his curse, but it had already decimated the acromantula nest, destroying all but the youngest of the spiders, and their king, Aragog. As soon as they landed, the two hugged, glad to be out of the forest, and it was only then that Harry realized that the sky had turned purple and lightning was flashing around, yet as they watched, the sky turned back to normal. “The game is finished, Harry Potter, and you have passed the test. The Millennium Scales are yours, but beware: evil will always seek the Items,” Shadi stated before vanishing.

“Harry, what was that all about?” Hermione asked.

“It’s a long story, but first, I have a question for you,” Harry stated as they walked back into the castle.

 

Across the Atlantic, a man with green hair and dichromatic eyes frowned. How did that boy escape the Orichalcos with a single spell? “It’s of no matter,” Dartz decided. “In time, the Seal of Orichalcos will claim all, and the world will be cleansed. But I shall need to keep an eye on young Harry Potter. He may well be a soul to feed to the Great Leviathan when the time comes.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just to reassure you, there is no spirit in the Scales, they are just slightly sentient, as I believe all the Millennium Items are, considering their origin. (Not to mention very dark, though not necessarily evil.) Second, Yami Harry only showed up due to the Shadow Game, he is not going to be a split personality like Yami Marik, although they are fairly similar. Third, I would like to credit my good friend Joey (Wheeler) Alcorn for coming with the three Shadow Games that Harry had to play, I truly couldn’t have done it without him. Oh, and the prototype Duel Disk that Harry used in the First Task is the same one that Seto uses in Duellist Kingdom against Yugi and Joey.


	5. Beginnings

As Harry waited by the Black Loch with Sirius and Hermione in preparation for the third and final task, his mind went over the last four months. His relationship with Hermione had only improved now that they were officially dating, thankfully, even with the madness of Shadi and the Second Task, where he had to save her from the very Loch they were now sitting by. He had also become good friends with the Beauxbatons champion, Fleur Delacour after he saved her sister from the Loch. That action helped him and Hermione realize that under the snob, French Veela exterior, Fleur had a heart of gold and was actually a very nice person and a loyal friend. Unfortunately wherever there was light, there was also darkness, and it was becoming clear to those who paid attention that Voldemort was on the rise, and that he was most likely the one behind Harry's involvement in the Tournament. Already two people from the Ministry had been killed, and it was only a matter of time before Voldemort made a big move.

And speaking of big moves, a helicopter was landing just a little up the Loch, one with a very familiar logo, and an equally familiar young man stepped from it and started walking towards the trio. "Seto? Seto Kaiba?" Harry asked in confusion as the young CEO walked towards him. "What are you doing here?" While the duo had become close over the year they had known each other, Seto had never been back to England, saying that his company took up too much of his time.

"Harry, I needed to talk to someone I could trust, and as terrible as it is to say, the only one I can trust is you."

Harry looked closely at the older boy, and was shocked to realize that he had been broken sometime in the month since they'd last spoken. "Seto, what happened to you?" he asked as he signaled Hermione and Sirius to give them some privacy.

"I was in a duel, and I lost."

"You WHAT?! How?"

Seto took a breath and explained. "It was three days ago. As you know, I teach English at the high school near my company headquarters. At the lunch break I heard one of my students mention that his grandfather owned a card shop and had a 'super-rare card'. I don't know why, but I jumped to the conclusion that it was the last Blue Eyes, so I followed them there. To my shock, it  _was_ a Blue Eyes."

"The seventh known to exist in the whole world," Harry remembered all too well. Harry and Seto held the other six, three each.

"Yes, and that's when something rose up in me, the same darkness I've been worried about for the past six months. Because of it, I  _had_  to have that dragon, if only to make sure it couldn't be used against me. I offered dozens of cards in trade or to buy it at any price he named, and the old man refused to sell. Spouted off some nonsense about 'the heart of the cards'." Harry's eyebrow raised at the phrase. Could it be that this old man was Solomon Mutou? Seto continued with "So the next day, I challenged him to an ante duel and beat him. He had a heart attack as a result of the duel, possibly because he had never been in an official duel before, so my students showed up to take him to the hospital. Yugi Mutou, the man's grandson decided to duel me himself while two of his friends took the old man to the hospital. But there was something strange about the duel from the very beginning, because  _everything_ about Yugi changed just before the duel began, even his height! However, even with that strangeness, the duel went well for me, as I was winning early on with only Saggi and Negative Energy, but he turned it around briefly, then stopped me with Swords of Revealing Light. By the last turn the Swords were around, he had 400 life points and no monsters, and I had 1000 life points and all three of my Blue Eyes out."

"Then how could you possibly lose?" Harry asked. For Seto to lose  _period_ was unheard of, let alone to an unknown amateur duellist! People around the world had started calling him the King of Games, and not just because of KaibaCorps' domination of the world of card and board games. For Seto to lose to an amateur duellist when he had all three Blue Eyes on the field? Utterly impossible.

"Because he did the impossible: he played Exodia!"

"Exodia?!" Harry asked in shock. "It's not possible! No one's ever been able to summon him!"

"That's exactly what I said, but he did it! I couldn't believe it, and he told me to open my mind. That's when something happened, something that has changed me, but I don't know how. He told me that if I put my heart into my deck, there was nothing I couldn't do, then he told me to open my mind, and I actually  _fainted_. When I woke up, something about me was different, but I don't know what!" Seto exclaimed, clearly frustrated by the mystery.

"Okay Seto, I have an idea, but I need your permission." Seto raised an eyebrow, clearly telling Harry to explain. "I know a spell that can allow me to read your mind in such a way that I will know instantly what's missing. The thing is, it also allows me to see your dreams, your biggest secrets, and your greatest weakness. I only used this spell once before, on my godfather after he was cleared to make sure I was the one on his mind, and not my dad, and I decided after that to only use it with permission," Harry finished.

Seto nodded. "If there's any one person outside Mokuba who I believe I could trust with that knowledge, it's you Harry. Although we've only known each other a year, I have learned that you deserve the hero worship the magical world gives you. Not because of that fateful night, but because, at the core of your heart and soul is nothing but pure generosity and loyalty. I consider myself lucky to know you, and name you my only friend. Go ahead, Harry."

Harry had tears in his eyes when he heard how much Seto trusted him. And to think, it all started because he owned a few Blue Eyes. So, he whispered one of the Parselmagic spells he had learned:  _Ehshereysa_. Inside, he found the remnants of a dark shadow around certain memories, especially those around someone name 'Gozaburo'. As he continued his search, he noticed that wherever there was a painful memory, there were remnants of the same shadow, like the shadow had somehow been torn out of his mind. He pulled out of Seto's mind and stated "It looks like he removed that darkness you've been afraid of, Seto. It's not  _completely_  gone, but there was so much of it that I'm not surprised you've been worried about it."

"That's it? That's all that's missing?" Seto asked in confusion. "Then why do I feel so ... lost?"

"Well, much of it is from when you were around my age, so that may be it. And if you need help finding yourself, you can stick around here if you want. I know Sirius has been looking forward to meeting you." That was an understatement, as Sirius had basically insisted on meeting the young man that had intrigued Harry so much, to the point that Harry had gone to Gringotts to invest in his company.

Seto smiled at Harry. "I think I'll take you up on your offer, at least for a little while."

* * *

Three hours, a conversation and tour of Hogwarts later, and Harry was preparing for the last task of the Tournament. Despite what everyone thought, Harry was ready, no matter what kind of spells had been placed on the maze itself. Dumbledore had warned the champions that there was some kind of spell on the hedges that 'changed' people, but Harry wasn't worried about any personality spells.

And now the time had come. Harry was the first into the maze, as he had the best score, and thanks to Hermione, he had a direction to go. Harry charged into the maze, careful to watch for any barriers or creatures, and soon he found one: one of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts, a crossbreed of a manticore and fire crab.

An hour into the maze, and Harry had already had to deal with a boggart, a confundus mist, a Skrewt, and the constantly changing maze that seemed to be made of devil's snare. Already the maze had claimed Fleur, and Harry had stunned an imperiused Krum, though he had set off sparks for both of the champions. Now, based on where he was in comparison with the stands, he was nearly at the centre of the Quidditch field, and he faced another monster: a sphinx. " **You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me,"**  it stated. "You need only answer my riddles in order to pass me."

"Very well, speak your riddles," Harry agreed. And so the sphinx began.

"With no wings I fly, with no eyes I see, with no arms I climb

More frightening than any beast, stronger than any foe

I am cunning, ruthless and tall

In the end, I rule all."

Harry had to think for a while, but he soon answered "Imagination."

"Correct," the sphinx stated before continuing on.

"Come, let me tell you of Hector's demise,

Of Tristan's love and Mordred's lies.

Tales woven by others, not a word I can claim,

Yet my recitings are flawless, each telling the same.

Patience and I'll teach you the words of the wise,

Secret truths only experience supplies.

You'll find me in the halls of scholarly concern,

The rigid tutor that knows yet won't learn

Hush and know fables both dark and grand,

Of Homer's epics and Grimm's cautioning hand.

They'll whisper their intrigue in a voice you own,

Slip the hours away till sleep calls you home.

What am I?"

This one took no pondering at all. "Easy, Hermione's favourite place in the world: the library."

"Correct. You need only answer one more riddle, and you may pass.

Twin towers flank a host of fourteen

With all the court between.

Born of chariots, their reach is far.

To friend, to foe, to all there are.

Beside them the mounted dogs of war trod,

Followed by those who speak the words of God.

All bow to the crown and guard His Grace,

Moving when threatened to take his place.

To a bloodless war lowly footmen are chanced,

But deadliest of all is His Lady's advance.

Dark ranks match them, man for man,

A pale knight leads, the war begins."

Harry thought, but once again, a friend provided the answer. "Easy, a chessboard and it's pieces. Thank you Seto!" The sphinx nodded, and Harry passed through. He finally made it to the centre of the maze, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Cedric being attacked by an Acromantula. "Damn my Gryffindor nobility," Harry whispered. He was just to damned noble to let Cedric get killed by the spider, not when he was so far behind the others yet still managed to get so close. Harry killed the spider with a spell he had actually learned from Riddle in his second year. Cedric was grateful, and then suggested that they take the Cup together, so that no one could dispute that Hogwarts had won. Harry agreed, and together they grabbed the Cup, and were instantly portkeyed away.

The duo arrived in the middle of a graveyard, where Cedric was quickly killed and Harry bound to a tombstone and used for a ritual. A ritual where Pettigrew brought back Voldemort, who then summoned his Death Eaters. Once they returned, he punished them for being faithless before monologuing for a good hour about how he survived and what it took for him to come back. Finally, Voldemort finished and he turned to Harry. "Now, I need to destroy you, Harry Potter, but in order for me to prove my power, I must do so in a fair fight. Now, you remember this little trinket, correct?" he asked, fingering the necklace he now wore around his own neck.

"Yeah, the Millennium Necklace. Supposedly it gives you the ability to see the future. How's that going so far, Tom?" Harry asked with a scoff. After having heard Ron Weasley complain about Trelawney for two years, he had serious doubts about anyone being able to see the future.

Voldemort ignored the jab and explained, while also releasing Harry from his bonds. "It can do more than that, Harry. Each of the Millennium Items also endows its' user to call on a powerful magic, one that has been lost for five thousand years-"

"Shadow Magic, I know," Harry interrupted. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Simple, Harry. We are going to play a Shadow Game, and the stakes will be our souls!" Voldemort finished, though he hid his surprise that Harry knew of Shadow Magic. With his statement of the stakes, the entire graveyard was surrounded by a black and purple cloud that often set off lightning of the same colour. "The game is simple: conjure the most dangerous monster you can imagine. Our monsters will then battle each other until one has lost," Voldemort explained. "Now, begin!"

Harry didn't even have to think, and instantly conjured Slytherin's basilisk, which was the exact same beast that Voldemort did. "WHAT? How did you do that?"

"Why don't you ask Lucius, Tom? Ask him what happened to your diary." Voldemort glared at the blond while Harry explained. "Lucius was mad at Arthur Weasley for a law he had passed, so he gave your diary to his daughter, who then unleashed the basilisk on Hogwarts. Fortunately, my friends and I had figured the secret of the Chamber and we stopped you and your ... shall we say, trinket?"

Voldemort turned to Lucius and hissed out "I'll deal with you later." Then he turned back to Harry and smirked at him. "You may have conjured an equal to my own monster, Harry, but you cannot control it!"

"Can't I?" Harry asked, his signature smirk of victory showing clearly on his face despite the late hour. "Then let the game begin, Tom!  _Kill the snake!_ " he ordered the basilisk in Parseltongue.

However, due to the nature of the order, Harry's basilisk didn't go after Voldemort's, but what it did proved to be far better as it bit and killed Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake, and another of his 'trinkets'. Voldemort was so furious that he very nearly sent a Cruciatus at Harry just for that. Had he not seen the vision that the Necklace provided him, he would have, and instantly lost the Shadow Game. But he did receive the vision, and as such, the only thing he did was order his own basilisk to attack. The two king snakes struck at each other time and again, but when all was said and done, both basilisks lay dead and the Shadow Realm faded away, leaving them all in the graveyard again. "Fine, if I can't beat you that way, then I'll beat you the old fashioned way!"

Harry grinned. "But Tom, that  _was_  the old fashioned way, and you just lost!"

"Avada Kedavra!" was his only response.

Harry grinned, knowing exactly what was going to happen. "Expelliarmus!"

* * *

A month had passed since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and Fudge was in denial about Riddle's return, despite the evidence of the Millennium Scales and Harry's oath. Ever since then, Fudge had been using the  _Daily Prophet_  to smear Harry's name. Fortunately, Tom Abbot was reassuring Harry that none of his patrons at The Leaky Cauldron believed the  _Prophet_. Unfortunately, none of them wanted to believe that Voldemort was back either.

As a result of Voldemort's return, Draco had moved in with his cousin and Harry, while Narcissa kept them up to date with Voldemort's actions. Also, Hermione came over every few days to update them with mundane news, just in case Voldemort acted there. Just last week she had joined them to watch the Asian Regional Finals of a Duel Monsters tournament.

"Hey, Harry! I got a package for you," Hermione stated. "And would you believe that it's from Industrial Illusions?"

Curious, the three wizards gathered around the package. Inside they found a gauntlet, two stars, four special cards and a glass orb. "Hey, I recognize that thing," Sirius stated. "It's a memory orb, they're usually used for recording wills and other messages, but with the right enchantment, they can be used like the mirrors. All you need to do is touch them and they activate."

Harry nodded, knowing his godfather was referring to a pair of enchanted mirrors that Sirius had made with James. Sirius had given him James' mirror last September so they could keep in touch. Now that he knew what the orb was, his Gryffindor curiosity took over and he touched the orb. Instantly, a hologram appeared, revealing the distinctive figure of Maximillion J Pegasus, founder of Industrial Illusions and creator of Duel Monsters. "Ah, Harry-boy, I see you got my package. As I'm sure you know, I am Maximillion Pegasus, and I am setting up a tournament with duellists from all over the world. While you are a duelling legend inside Hogwarts, I wanted to test your skills personally. Right here, right now, you and I shall duel with a strict time limit of fifteen minutes. When time is up, the player with the most life points shall be the winner. What do you say?"

"I say, let the game begin, Pegasus! Let's duel." As soon as Harry finished speaking, the room turned dark and cold, and the only one moving was Harry himself. "Great, a Shadow Game. Well, start the clock, Pegasus. Whatever your game is, you  _will_  lose."

"We'll see, Harry-boy. We shall see. Now, just to show how nice I can be, you can go first. But you must explain to me how you know of the Shadow Games."

 **Harry:** 2000

 **Pegasus:**  2000

Harry smirked. "You'll regret that, Pegasus. I summon Blade Knight in Attack mode and end my turn. Anyways, I know of the Shadow Games because a friend of mine works in Egypt and … studies it's history."

"Of course, young William Weasley, the curse-breaker for Gringotts Bank. Very well, to the duel. I shall start with the field spell Kozmotown, and activate it's effect to reveal two Kozmo cards, shuffle them back into my deck and draw two cards. Then I will fusion summon Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss and end my turn."

Harry raised his eyebrow in shock. He hadn't thought Pegasus would play such a powerful monster so early! He had to build up his defence. "Alright, I play one card facedown in Defence Mode and end my turn."

"I play Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards, then I will summon Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss in Attack Mode, then set a card facedown and attack Blade Knight with Barbar."

 **Harry:**  1900

 **Pegasus:**  2000

"Alright, I play Remove Trap," "then I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon and attack Dante!"

 **Harry:**  1900

 **Pegasus:**  1800

"Oh no!" Pegasus cried out in feigned shock. "My first strong monster is destroyed, whatever shall I do?" Then he gave a pleased grin. "Now I know, I can activate my monsters ability," he explains with a laugh that sounds almost … sinister. "When Dante is destroyed, I get to send one of your cards to the graveyard, so let's say goodbye to your Masked Beast," Pegasus ordered with a smirk. Harry raised an eyebrow, the only hint to the complete and utter shock he felt.  _I thought he was a mundane! How did he know I had the Masked Beast?_  Pegasus continued his move with "Then I summon Kozmo Dark Destroyer, which destroys my Barbar, but now his effect activates, allowing me to deal 900 points of damage!"

 **Harry:**  1000

 **Pegausus:**  1800

"Now, I activate my Dark Destroyer's special ability to destroy your facedown Interplanetarypurplythorny Beast."

Again, Harry raised his eyebrow in shock, as once again Pegasus had identified a card he had never seen. Then he saw something underneath Pegasus' hair, a glint of gold where his eye should be. Was it a magical artefact? The mystery would have to wait, the timer was running down. "First, I will summon my Mad Archfiend and equip him with my Malevolent Nuzzler. Then I will activate Burst Stream of Destruction, destroying your Dark Destroyer, and I will end my turn."

Pegasus started laughing like a madman, and there was an equally mad gleam in his eye. "Why, Harry-boy, you did exactly what I wanted you to do! But first, I play the spell card Hand Destruction, forcing us to throw away our entire hand, then draw the same amount of cards." Harry grimaced as he was forced to toss his Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness. "Next I play Card of Sanctity, which forces us to draw until we are holding six cards. Next I play Twin Twister, destroying Kozmotown and your Malevolent Nuzzler. And with Kozmotown's destruction, I get to add a Kozmo monster to my hand. Then I play Raigeki, destroying all your monsters. Next, I play Exchange."

Harry winced again, as the card forced him to trade a card with Pegasus. In his hand, Pegasus held Kozmourning, Land Walker, Monster Reborn, and Change of Heart, so Harry took Monster Reborn, while Pegasus took his Magic Cylinder. "Now that that's done, Dark Destroyer's effect from the graveyard to summon Kozmo Forerunner and then I shall end my turn."

Harry grinned, the older man had not played his Magic Cylinder, which would allow him to destroy the ship. "I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Masked Beast, then I summon Rabidragon. Next I will attack your Forerunner with my Masked Beast!"

 **Harry:**  1000

 **Pegasus:**  1400

Pegasus seemed as calm as a cucumber, almost as if he knew that he couldn't lose the duel. "I play Poison of the Old Man, allowing me to gain 1200 more Life Points."

 **Harry:**  1000

 **Pegasus:**  2600

"Next I will take your Masked Beast with my Change of Heart, then I will use my Forerunner's special ability to summon out my Kozmo DOG Fighter, then Normal Summon my Kozmo Dark Eclipser, then I will use your Masked Beast to destroy your Rabidragon!"

 **Harry:**  750

 **Pegasus:**  2600

Pegasus gave his mad laugh again as the timer hit zero. "Not bad, Harry-boy. You are as skilled as I have heard, but whether we duel again will depend on whether or not you can defeat an island's worth of duellists. But before that happens, I get my prize! See you soon, Harry-boy!" he finished with a laugh, and a flash of light going from his eye to Sirius. As the Shadow Realm faded away, Sirius collapsed, as soulless as if he had been kissed by a Dementor. "Damn you Pegasus!" Harry shouted at the orb.

"So, what now?" Hermione asked once Harry had explained what had happened.

"First, we take Sirius to your parents so they can take him to a hospital. Magicals don't think a soul can be put back in a body after it's been taken out, so they would bury his body, and he'd be truly dead in a week. As to how to get his soul back, Pegasus has already given us the answer," Harry responded.

"Huh? I don't understand," Draco said.

"The items in the package tell us," Harry explained, holding up the cards. " _Duellist Kingdom_  is our destination.  _Set Sail to the Kingdom_  is our ticket there. The star chips and gauntlet tell us how to win the tournament. We have two chips that fit inside the wrist section of the gauntlet, and there is room for ten. We wager star chips in our duels and the ones to win ten move on to the finals.  _Glory of the King's Hand_  and  _Glory of the King's Opposite Hand_  are the prizes, three million US dollars for winning the tournament and an open-ended prize for beating Pegasus himself.  _That_  is how I win his soul back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Seto says to Harry is my explanation as to why he's in Yugi's school and wearing their uniform when he runs his own company and all the main characters call him by his family name of Kaiba. If he is a teacher, then out of respect, Yugi and company would only call him Kaiba. Oh, and there is no missing scene. I meant to skip the rest of the graveyard and the confrontation between Dumbledore, Harry and Fudge. Basically, it went exactly the same as in canon except Harry used the Millennium Scales to prove he was telling the truth, and when Fudge didn't believe it, he then made an oath to the same effect. Fudge still didn't accept the oath and stormed off.


End file.
